Three Plays: The Hairy Ape / Anna Christie / The First Man

by Eugene O'Neill

The Hairy Anna Christie and The First Man is a collection of three plays by the American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The first play, The Hairy Ape, tells the story of Yank, a brutish and uneducated laborer who feels alienated from society and struggles to find his place in the world. The play explores themes of class, identity, and the dehumanizing effects of industrialization.The second play, Anna Christie, follows the titular character as she reunites with her father after many years apart. Anna has lived a rough life and struggles to come to terms with her past, while her father tries to make amends for his own mistakes. The play explores themes of redemption, forgiveness, and the power of love to heal past wounds.The final play in the collection, The First Man, is an unfinished work that was discovered after O'Neill's death. It tells the story of a man who is haunted by memories of his past and struggles to find meaning in his life. The play explores themes of memory, regret, and the search for self-discovery.Overall, The Hairy Anna Christie and The First Man is a powerful collection of plays that delve deep into the human experience, exploring complex themes of identity, class, redemption, and the search for meaning in life. O'Neill's masterful writing and keen insight into the human psyche make this collection a must-read for anyone interested in the theater or in exploring the complexities of the human condition.1922. Generally agreed to be one of the most significant forces in the history of the American theater, O'Neill is a three-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize. This volume the Pulitzer Prize-winning Anna Christie; The Hairy Ape; and The First Man, which were written between the years of 1918 to 1924. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

American playwright Eugene Gladstone O'Neill authored Mourning Becomes Electra in 1931 among his works; he won the Nobel Prize of 1936 for literature, and people awarded him his fourth Pulitzer Prize for Long Day's Journey into Night , produced in 1956.

He won his Nobel Prize "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy." More than any other dramatist, O'Neill introduced the dramatic realism that Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg pioneered to Americans and first used true American vernacular in his speeches.

His plays involve characters, who, engaging in depraved behavior, inhabit the fringes of society, where they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. O'Neill wrote Ah, Wilderness! , his only comedy: all his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism.

Reviews

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Hairy Ape is rather a symbolic drama (expressionism?) about the man who has last his harmony with the nature, but yet to approach to a harmony of his own, ... maybe that's why Yank shakes hand with the gorilla at Zoo in the last scene ...